Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!

This book was quite busy, and covered lots of ground, it goes from Afghanistan, to Canada to India, all part of the main character Hamasa's spiritual journey. This book gives a lot of food for thought.

Blink of An Eye by John H.K. Fisher
Review by Dawn Thomas

344 Pages
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing / Cosmic Egg Books
Release Date: June 28, 2019

Fiction, Mystery & Thriller

The book begins with Hamasa being interrogated by Israeli Intelligence officers in the United States. Hamasa and his family lived in Afghanistan. His father, Jaabir is an Israeli spy posing as a Taliban. His mother, Ameera is the daughter of a Taliban leader. After an attack, Jaabir gets his family out of the country and they make their way to Canada. Hamasa’s grandfather is a Taliban leader.

During a summer vacation when Hamasa is sixteen, he returns to Afghanistan to help rebuild the town. After landing, a bomb explodes at the airport. His grandfather collects him from the wreckage and brings him back to his home. He convinces Hamasa his way of life is the true way and brings him back into the Taliban as a soldier.

Hamasa’s sees both sides of life. He wants to find the one true God. He is tired of seeing suffering with the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer and goes on a quest to find the truth. What he finds will surprise him.

This book is written in third person. It is face paced and jumps from different perspectives. There are many religious references but not to any one religion as Hamasa is on his quest. It was an enjoyable read and I couldn’t wait to see how it was going to end.

In the Blink of an Eye.

The story begins in war ridden Afghanistan . Hamasa, the main character is indoctrinated into the beliefs of the Taliban, largely by his grandfather. His parents seeing what is happening decide to move to Canada where teenager Hamada soon becomes immersed in his new Canadian life. Hamasa has an inquiring mind and is always seeking the ‘truth’......what to believe.....his parents who are Christian, or his grandfather who believes in the Taliban. After a religious experience Hamada decides he needs to go back to Afghanistan to help save his people. On the ride from the airport his grandfather gives him a gun and tells him to shot and kill a terrorist. He does so without question, believing it is right as the evil in the world needs to be destroyed.. His life story is told when he is captured and interrogated, given a ‘truth’ drug to reveal all! A long drawn out interrogation that details every thought about the meaning of life, and debating if there is a god. For me it was too long and repetitive, but there were some major ideas that provoked some thought. I haven’t mentioned the love of his life Nayanna, and Sky or the Masters, you have to read the book to discover how they became an intricate part of the story. Well written. I give it 3.1/2.

Title: Blink of an Eye
Author: John H. K. Fisher
Publish by Date: 2018
Publisher: Cosmic Egg Books, an imprint of JHP Books, U.K.
Rating: 4****
Book blurb: " Guilt is a trick of the mind to keep the soul trapped in the physical world. "

Summary
Hamas was a prisoner of the government for being a terrorist. His port in the storm was Nayanna. She made it all bearable. But his questioner was sure "...Hamas still had no idea that Nayanna wasn't and never had been a prisoner. Nayanna was the reason Hamasa had been caught.". Location: 3132
Recruited after September 11, 2001, the government have no choice. His mission to gather information on terrorist attacks. He ended up helping to plan an attack with the group all in an attempt to get inside with the Master and his successor. Having planned one attack, it doesn't appear as if he is innocent. Upon a murder inside the U.S. of Nayanna's husband Sky, he got captured by the people in the U.S. They began to question him regarding his activities and sometimes not so nicely.
His former friends tried to run interference it seemed the meeting with the Master had done the, and he was no longer for the U.S. But Hamasa differed in his opinion and tried to tell one person what had transpired. He went to meet the Master when he was to transfer his knowledge and power to the successor. They successor true was with Nayanna. Thus the Master was unable to meet with him and chose Hamasa to act as his vessel until he, Hamasa could transfer that same knowledge and power to that successor.
It seemed, however, that Hamasa felt he was the conduit for the message to be heard through and not the successor. He gathered a following. In the end, some actual governments, including member nations of the United Nations, also joined in his way of thinking.

Analysis
It was an exciting read. Not exactly sure what category -the genre of writing this falls under. It talks about religious belief and change in opinion. It discusses terrorism after September 11, and it's connection to the Master. And they wrap it up in a bow by discussing an alien race of intelligent beings. Sort of like Sy Fy meets fantasy meets religion meets espionage.
I liked it. It kept me reading. Each page drew me deeper. I found it interesting that Hamasa was recruited to infiltrate camps to find information. He claimed to have no choice. He meets Nayanna and decides that is who he wants in his love life. So he must fight for her. It does make you wonder how people get recruited into ISIS. That is why I thought it was a book about terrorism and espionage, but it wasn't entirely. It was about belief, world peace and health, as well as terrorism, strife, war and misery. Equal balance. A form of utopia.
Although I found some typos, it was well written. I recommend the book as a good read.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book to review and no money.

After being raised by the Taliban in Afghanistan, Hamasa moves on to Canada, where a religious experience draws him back to his war-ravaged home Afghanistan. There, he begins wondering who he is and what his purpose in life is, some of the profound questions we all ask ourselves at one point or another in our lives. Hamasa finds an ancient document, risking his own life as well as those of the ones he loves in hope that he will find answers to the questions he is asking therein.

Interesting book, full of a lot of the philosophy of life and such, which I figured was that of the author intended. I found the manner in which the author made his points, in this complex and multi-layered plot, made for a fascinating read. Definitely not some mystery or romance, but a bit more autobiographical, filled with deep thought. I left with some unanswered questions and somewhat confused ideas (also, as I read). I am not sure how one would classify this book. As I said, is it perhaps autobiographical (?), philosophical (?), thought provoking (?)? Hard to say, on my part. I think someone looking for a different book on Afghanistan or on how one journeys through life might find this interesting. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

I found this book much different from anything I have read. It was refreshing. Hamasa was raised by The Taliban. He goes to Canada . While there, he has a spiritual experience that causes him to go back to Afghanistan . Why did he feel this need? Answers that have been hidden are found by Hamasa in the dead Sea Scrolls. By doing this, he puts everyone he loves in danger. I really enjoyed reading this book. It was full of mystery and discovery. I received this book from Net Galley and John Hunt Publishing for a honest review.

We follow Hamasa from his childhood home of Afghanistan, then on to Canada and finally to Pakistan to be trained by the Taliban. Hamasa is ordered by his terrorist grandfather to murder his own parents who were considered treacherous. The plot is complex and multilayered. The story is told by Hamasa and Nayanna's point of view. I was a bit confused at times. The story was interesting but it was not my usual type of read.

I would like to thank NetGalley, John Hunt Publishing and the author John H.K. Fisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Now and again i enjoy reading something a little different and upon reading the synopsis, i decided to give this book a try. I do not easily give up reading a book and did read until the end, but can only say that this book wasn't for me unfortunately.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for my copy. This is my honest review, freely given.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. In short my review would question how this book ever got to publication, I can see some sort of complex storyline but the narration of that storyline simply leaves the reader confused. Is Hamasa (who i always wanted to call Harissa) with Nayanna or Sky? Did he kill his parent and / or Sky? to be honest do i care? the sentence structure is particularly awful and at some point I had to decide that it really didn't matter if i understood what the whole book was about. The trouble is that it does matter and unfortunately the book doesn't lend itself to understanding. I can't imagine ever wanting to read another novel by this author

I wanted to love this book, I really did. Given the context of its publication and what it was actually about it sounded so excellent and a very important read. Here I worry that the writer trivialised a lot of real suffering and seemed to miss the point a little bit. I think if you are going to write on the taliban etc (a feat I would never attempt) you should do so wholly informed and knowledgeable, but this one felt like it missed the mark a little

This should have been a fast paced thriller to challenge the likes of Brown and Bourne. Unfortunately, while it starts well, it becomes muddled fast. The characters lack development and the plot is incoherent.

Hamasa doesn't know who he really is, especially when summoned back to Afghanistan with instructions from his terrorist grandfather to kill his treacherous parents. It is therefore not surprising that he is gay preoccupied with the burning existential questions of who we are, why we are here and where we are going. Unfortunately one if the Dead Sea Scrolls he commits terrorist acts against gangsters to acquire include a religious track on how to enslave the masses using religion Machiavelli would have sung the praises of.
Suddenly the idea that there might not be 72 virgins meeting the perpetrator of each suicide mission does compel some soul searching and the need to find a genuine guru. Especially as there is, if course, also a girl caught up in all this too. A genuine guru is found and Hasama gains superhuman skills. But what if all that is part of some kind of dupery too?
This novel demonstrates a keen awareness of the consequences of modern manifestations of evil - the extreme inequality, aging russian roulette with nukes, the manipulation of social ignorance.
This story is full of twists and unexpected turns, while fears surfaced more than once that this novel was out to convert the reader........but never fear. At the end of the day this is all good, clean science fiction. Perhaps what this novel does best is to demonstrate that even atheists and agnostics may have to concede that the religious impulse, whether or not there is anything beyond whatever meaning we choose to bestow on life, will always be the most dangerous impulse of all.

This was just an odd book that I really wanted to like but just didn't find it engrossing. I've read several novels about the Taliban but this one got off to a slow start and never really picked up for me. I had no idea where it was headed and that's usually not a problem as I like to be surprised, but I found myself thinking, "Why?" more than I should. I think many may find it is a good novel; it just wasn't my cup of tea!

The storyline of this book sounds so interesting but the flow of the characters and events are difficult to follow. It seems to be written in a disjointed manner. I stuck with it thru about 50% of the book but couldn’t maintain my interest.
I greatly respect anyone who has the patience and imagination to write a book. It’s a feat I’ve always envied, so I hesitate to be less than positive with my review. I can see the talent, the imagination and hard work that have been put into the creation of this novel but I’m not able to follow the logic and enjoy the read.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks so much to John Hunt Publishing, Cosmic Egg Books and NetGalley for making it available.)

Honestly, this book is weird. It starts off with an investigation, which gripped my attention because it looked like it was going to be a thriller, and lost my attention even faster because it was getting very... <i> odd </i>. Throughout, the book didn't manage to get me hooked at all, there's so much going on and it's hard to keep up, there's a sense of confusion consistent all the way, and towards the end, things get really, really <i> weird</i>, it's just difficult to understand what's going on, which makes it difficult to get into and like so it didn't work for me.

Blink of an Eye

by John H K Fisher

Blink of an Eye, by John H K Fisher, is a gripping tale that follows the main protagonist, Hamasa from his childhood in Afghanistan, to Canada and then to Pakistan to be trained by the Taliban. I have to say I've read many books about Afghanistan, by Afghanis, but never from this particular perspective.
This many-layered book is told not only by Hamasa's, but also from the point of view of a Canadian Pakistani girl, called Nayanna.
The plot is complex, filled with twists, turns and hidden depths, because despite Hamasa's hard-hitting rants (under interrogation) about society's inequalities, the lure of extremism and radicalisation, fundamentally his is a spiritual journey.
The action begins with the adult Hamasa being interrogated in the USA, by whom or why, we don't initially know. However, it is during interrogation that he recounts his life: his early upbringing amongst the Taliban; his teenage years in Canada and the crazy antics of his posturing teenage friends, often with tragic consequences; how he fell in love, and that is just the start of his extraordinary life.
The focus of the story, however shifts into an entirely different gear when Hamasa makes a remarkable discovery, involving ancient documents, which sends him on a perilous quest to find answers to ages old questions. In his search for greater truths, Hamasa goes into long and dense musings about religion and God, even coming up with his own revised version of The Lords Prayer. This is a deep and thought provoking thriller that races along at a cracking pace and keeps you turning those pages. This book being unlike anything I've read before made me wonder about the author and I was amazed to find he is a well-know American singer.

This is the story of Hamasa. His early childhood is spent in Afghanistan but his life changes beyond recognition when his parents flee from Afghanistan and take him to Canada. However there are many more surprises ahead for Hamasa.

The book opens with an interrogation scene, giving the impression of a crime thriller to follow. We then move to Afghanistan where we meet Hamasa's parents. His father is an Israeli, but brought up as Afghan. He and his wife are spies working for the Israeli government. The interrogation scenes continue through the book, but it becomes apparent that this is not a thriller, but a tale exploring themes such as humanity, love, the nature of God, free will and how people can best live together on Earth.

I enjoyed reading about Hamasa's childhood in Afghanistan and his love of kite flying. When he moves to Canada he is overwhelmed by new experiences and there is a lovely description of his wanting to pave the roads across the world so people could all travel in style by skateboard or bicycle. In exploring his new-found freedom, Hamasa rather loses his way, drinking, taking drugs and running wild. The book unfortunately rather lost me here as I think far too much was made of his exploits than was needed to make the point.

In the middle of this chaos Hamasa had a life-changing, out of body experience and felt all he wanted to do was meditate and discover the Divine (although at this point circumstances took him back to Afghanistan where he became a terrorist!) Many religions are touched upon in this book. Hamasa is brought up as a Muslim, but having moved to Canada his parents introduce him to Christianity. On later discovering his Israeli heritage he explores Judaism and his girlfriend in Canada comes from a Sikh family and travels to an ashram in India to meditate and learn from a Master there. As Hamasa continues his search for the Divine he struggles with the many branches of different religions all proclaiming different truths.

Hamasa wants to create a world where there is sufficient food and water for everyone, where everyone has access to education, shelter and health care. He looks to religion for solutions and he looks to science - could our brains be reprogrammed to enable us to live better together?

I must admit I struggled with this book as I could never quite get the feel of where it was going - which is probably how Hamasa was feeling in his life! A fantasy element is introduced towards the end of the story, so having read something which might have seemed potentially realistic, suddenly (without giving away the plot) the impossible can happen it all seemed to get more and more far fetched at the end which left me skim reading the last pages.

Sadly I felt it was all rather incoherent. The book is only 344 pages but felt so much longer. I was never gripped by it as I never knew where it was heading. At the outset it feels as though the story may be about Hamasa's parents but regretfully we never find out what happens to them and the spy story, which is so key at the outset, fizzles out. Much of the story is told by Hamasa whilst being interrogated under the influence of drugs and the book did seem to ramble, as I suppose he was doing during the interrogation.

I have no issue with fantasy but parts of this got so fantastical I found myself thinking 'What now?' Also whereas some authors seem to have such a natural way with words this often felt 'clunky'. I ended up laughing at the wrong moments such as when Hamasa had his spiritual experience and then suddenly declared he would be a vegetarian for ever.

Sadly this was not a book for me. I think there could be the potential for a couple of books here if the ideas were untangled a bit. I would have liked to read more about the Hamasa who discovers his parents were spies and was sorry the plot was a bit 'off the wall' at the end. I must confess also to have missed the point of why it was called 'Blink of an Eye'.

With my thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a review copy.